Lesson 29

Handout 1 - Fact Sheet

Charles F. Brush

Charles F. Brush was born in 1849 in Euclid, Ohio. Educated in
the public schools of Cleveland, he went on to receive a degree
in mining engineering from the University of Michigan. After his
graduation, he returned to Cleveland and worked as a chemist for
4 years. He became an iron dealer in partnership with Charles
E. Bingham and continued to pursue a life-long interest in inventions.
In 1876 he patented the open coil-type dynamo, a forerunner of
the modern generator. He developed an arc light, which utilized
the electricity produced by the dynamo, in 1878. In 1879 he demonstrated
the arc light in a ceremony on Cleveland's Public Square. Soon
these lights spread across America and into Europe, replacing
the gas lights which had become standard street illumination in
most large cities.

By 1889, the Brush Electric Company was purchased by the Thompson-Houston
Electric Company. In 1891, this company merged with the Edison
General Electric Company to form what is today known as General
Electric.

Brush held a variety of positions during his career ranging from
the president of Air Linde Products Co., to co-founder of the
Sandusky Portland Cement Company (later Medusa Cement). Brush
served as president of the Cleveland Arcade, Inc., Euclid National
Bank, and the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. He was an incorporator
of the Case School of Applied Science, which later became the
Case Institute of Technology and eventually merged with Western
Reserve University to form Case Western Reserve University.

Brush was honored numerous times during his lifetime, including
being named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. He established
the Brush Foundation, "to fund research in the field of eugenics
and in the regulation of the increase in population." Brush
believed that better health standards and improved medical care
were necessary to combat a dangerous population explosion. He
continued to be devoted to finding a solution for this problem
during the remaining years of his life.